Bill Text: HI SB1285 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Hazardous Recreational Activity; Government Agencies; Private Landowners; Limited Liability

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-02-15 - Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to JDL/WAM. [SB1285 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-SB1285-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 425

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1285

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1285 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TORT LIABILITY,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Grant immunity to state and county agencies and employees from liability for injury or damage to persons or property arising out of hazardous recreational activities; and

 

     (2)  Specify the recreational activities giving rise to injury or damages from which private landowners are granted limited liability under current law.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Attorney General; Department of Land and Natural Resources; City and County of Honolulu, Department of the Corporation Counsel; City and County Of Honolulu, Department of Parks and Recreation; Access Fund, and numerous individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from Hawaii Association for Justice.

 

     Your Committees find that due to Hawaii's thriving tourist industry and its abundant opportunities for recreation, hazardous recreational activities impose a significant liability concern to the counties and State.  This measure limits the State's unfettered liability for injuries and accidents that it cannot control or prevent and relies on those engaging in these activities to exercise personal responsibility and to assume the risk of what they know to be an inherently dangerous activity.  Your Committees further find that this measure does not absolve the State or counties of any and all liability regardless of any actions by the State or the counties or its employees.  The State and counties will remain liable for injury or damages caused by their own negligent, reckless, or grossly negligent acts.

 

     Your Committees heard testimony from the Access Fund, a national advocacy organization that keeps rock climbing areas open and conserves the climbing environment.  According to the Access Fund, the insurance for rock climbing sites like Mokuleia could cost between $2,000 to $5,000.  The Access Fund suggested that the State could provide this insurance by entering into a management agreement with the Access Fund who would provide a grant to the State; by procuring an insurance policy itself to cover only specific rock climbing areas; or by instituting an annual fee for individuals who wish to pursue hazardous recreational activities that will cover the State's insurance expenses.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2020, to encourage further discussion; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1285, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1285, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing,

 

____________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair		____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair